S1 EP11 Alexander Feldt - The Life of a Park Ranger in Russia's High Arctic
Release Date: 07/31/2019
S2 EP09 Jerome Viard - Bon appétit: Tales from the French Pastry Chef that Helped Feed South Georgia's Rat Team
Antarctic Stories
Jerome Viard grew up in France and later moved to the UK where he has enjoyed a successful career as a chef, having been head pastry chef at some of the best hotels in Cambridge.
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S2 EP08 Dr Lesley Cadzow - The Unusual Adventures of a Ship-based Expedition Doctor
Antarctic Stories
Expedition Doctor Lesley Cadzow was born in Scotland and studied to be a general practitioner in her home country before moving across the world to Australia, where she eventually landed a position with Aurora Expeditions as an expedition doctor on a polar expedition vessel.
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S2 EP07 Five Reasons to Avoid Crowdsourcing your Trip To Antarctica (and what to do instead) with Heather Thorkelson
Antarctic Stories
With an overwhelming amount of information about travelling to Antarctica on the internet, it seems like an easy way to narrow down your options is to ask other people on the internet (in FB groups or Lonely Planet travel forums, etc) what they recommend based on their experience when travelling there.
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S2 EP06 Theo Crutchley-Mack - Being an Artist in Residence on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia
Antarctic Stories
Theo Crutchley-Mack is a contemporary British artist whose work appears globally in private and public collections.
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S2 EP05 Alexia Spencer - Growing Greens 650 miles from the North Pole
Antarctic Stories
Alexia Spencer is Chief Operating Officer running day-to-day operations of Polar Permaculture, founded by visionary chef Benjamin Vidmar. Based in Svalbard, their mission is to improve accessibility to fresh and nutritious food through sustainable and resilient systems.
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S2 EP04 Howard Whelan - Part 2 - Tales from three decades of polar expeditioning
Antarctic Stories
We are joined once again by expeditioner Howard Whelan for Part 2 of his life story from the polar regions. In this episode, we continue Howard’s winding polar journey, including his involvement in the award-winning film Happy Feet, using laser scanners from a “bubble helicopter” to map grounded icebergs and sea ice.
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S2 EP03 Howard Whelan - Part 1 - Tales from three decades of polar expeditioning
Antarctic Stories
Howard Whelan is a polar expedition treasure having worked in the industry for three decades. His story begins long before, working in the dangerous environs of the fishing industry in Alaska as a teen, eventually becoming a journalist who started up Australian Geographic & then becoming part of the team that made the first Australian ascent of Mount Everest. And this was all before he ever set foot in Antarctica. In today's episode, Part 1 of 2, we'll get a front-row seat for Howard's fascinating stories.
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S2 EP02 Crimes in Antarctica - The cold, cruel, and desperate happenings on earth's most remote continent
Antarctic Stories
This episode is a slight departure from our usual programming. Buckle up for a deep dive into a truly fascinating topic...Antarctic crime.
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S2 EP01 Caitlyn Webster - Exploring the icy underworld through the eyes of a polar expedition diver
Antarctic Stories
Southern California-based Caitlyn Webster is an “Undersea Specialist” who interprets the natural history of everything and anything under the sea. As an experienced dry suit diver, in this episode, she regales us with stories of coming eye to eye with a Leopard seal underwater and exploring kelp beds amongst diving guillemots at Alkefjellet in Svalbard, while emphasizing the importance of keeping calm, being present and trusting in your dive partner.
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S1 EP 14 Tami Harris + Dave Weisman - How to choose the right adventure once you've caught the 'polar bug'
Antarctic Stories
Today on AntArctic Stories we have Dave Weisman and Tami Harris. Since retiring in 2012/2013, Tami and Dave have been spending about 75% of their time travelling internationally.
info_outlineAlexander Feldt has spent the last decade working as an Arctic guide both on land and on expedition cruise ships in Russia’s Far North and Northern Norway, as well as serving as a Park Ranger for the Russian Arctic National Park.
Originally from Arkhangelsk on Russia’s northern coast, he's spent his entire career focused on learning about and sharing his love for the history of this region.
Along with his insight into the recent history of the area, hear his stories of when he was on the world's strongest icebreaker and they hit an iceberg larger than the ship itself, and of being stranded with 40 guests on land - in dense fog - right in the thick of polar bear country.
Photo: stranded in the fog at Cape Fligely
Queue up today's podcast to get the inside scoop on this little known, and less-traveled part of our world.
HIGHLIGHTS
3:10 – How Alexander got started in his career as a Park Ranger
5:00 – The background of recently-developed tourism in the Russian High Arctic
8:00 – The only ways you can reach Franz Josef Land, one of the most remote archipelagos in the world
10:40 – There are only a handful of people who actually get to the Russian High Arctic each year - a truly exclusive and remote travel experience
13:30 – What it was like during the early days of tourism development (1990’s) and then the advent of the Russian Arctic National Park in 2011, with the first rangers starting to manage the human presence and maintain historical buildings
16:30 - The huge task of cleaning the Russian Arctic National Park from the leftovers of the military presence
18:50 – How the Park Rangers hitch a ride on the Icebreaker to “get to work” in this remote area
21:00 – On the development of guidelines to manage wildlife (polar bear) encounters based on AECO rules developed for Svalbard
23:00 – The critical importance of having park rangers with you in this remote and wild region
25:45 – How rangers deter polar bears when they are doing their conservation work on-site in the Park
30:00 – The challenges of managing a National Park that’s so huge and hard to monitor
32:00 – Alex shares a story of when the Russian Icebreaker 50 Years of Victory hit an iceberg that was higher than the icebreaker itself
36:00 – When Alex was stranded on land at the northernmost tip of Europe, Eurasia, and Russia at Cape Fligely in the fog with 40 passengers right in the thick of polar bear country
42:00 – Alexander’s “hobby” of protesting a landfill in Shies in the Russian North
50:00 – On the success of protests against landfills and the growing swell of support
LINKS
The Russian North is Not A Dump (Facebook Group) - https://www.facebook.com/poligonamnet/
Appeal to Leaders and Organizations in the Barents Region - https://www.facebook.com/poligonamnet/posts/492523018195851
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